Improvement in machines for twisting barbed wire



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E. P. PEACOCK. v MACHINES FOR TWISTING BARBED No.- 187,306.

WIRE. Patented Feb. 13

HOTOAJTHCGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D, C.

.Persgs, P

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIJAH P. PEACOCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE THORN WIREHEDGE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR TWISTING BARBED WIRE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 187,306, dated February13, 1877; application iiled June 5, 1876.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ELIJAH P. PEAoooK, ofChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Machines for rIwisting Barbed Fence-Wires,which is fully described in the following specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Y Figure 1 represents aperspective view of the machine. Figs. 2, 3, and 4, detail views of themechanism for feeding the reel back and forth, and for shifting the band5 Fig. 5, a plan view of the gearing for rotating the spools, and Fig. 6an end elevation of a spool, showing the method of mounting it upon itsbearings.

rEhe object of my invention is to provide a machine for twistingfencewires together, one or both of which is provided with pointedbarbs, so that the two when twisted together will make a barbed cableready for use in the construction of wire fences.

In the drawings an upright supportingframe is represented by the lettersA A. In the lower end of this frame is mounted a horizontaldriving-shaft, B, on one end of which is a driving-pulley, a, and on theother end a beveled gear-wheel, b. The gear-wheel b meshes with acorresponding wheel, c, fixed loosely on a stationary upright shaft, C,which is supported outside of the frame A, either upon a supportindependent of said frame, or connected therewith, asmay be desired. Aspool-frame, D, is loosely mounted upon the shaft C, the gear-wheel cbeing connected therewith in any suitable manner. Upon the outer ends ofthis frame are mounted the spools E, upon independent spindles e, whichare journaled in the frame D, and are provided with gear-wheels e',rigidly secured to them just below the spools. A gear-wheel, c', is alsomounted rigidly upon the shaft C, just above the frame D. This wheel cand the wheels e are of the same size, and have the same number ofteeth, and between the latter and the wheel c are transmitting-wheels dupon the frame D. From this construction and arrangement of gearing, itwill be seen that with every revolution of the frame D, by

means of which the spools vare carried once around a common center, eachspool will be revolved backward once upon its own. axis, and thus takethe twist out of each wire, which otherwisl. would be produced by thecommon revolution of the spools.

A tubular shaft, C', is placed upon the upper part of the shaft C so asto turn readily about the latter. This tubular shaft extends from thetop of the stationary shaft C to a plate, D', just above the gear-wheelc. The plate Dl is tted loosely upon the shaft C so as to turn thereon,and is fastened to the spool-frame D by the pivotal bolts which passthrough the gear-wheels d. It will be seen therefore that the plate Dmust revolve with the frame D, and as the tubular shaft C is rigidlyattached by a collar or other suitable device to the plate D', it mustalso turn with the plate and spool-frame. shaft C is attached across-bar, F, to each end of which is pivoted a pair of guiding-rollers,f f and j" j", arranged in line with the crossbar. Upon arms Gr,attached to the crossbar F, are also mounted rollers g and g', arrangeda't right angles to the rollers f and f', respectively, and to the topof a standard, H. Surmounting the shaft C is pivoted still another pairof rollers, h h.

The wires I and Il are first wound in a suitable manner upon the spoolsE E, which are mounted in suitable frames on the shafts e, and arereadily detached therefrom, so as to be replaced by others when thewires have been reeled on. At least one of these wires, I, is providedwith barbs, t", iixed upon it, and in order to permit these barbs topass easily and without bending between the guidingrollers F, the latterare made oi' open-work, something like a cagethat is, they areconstructed from two circular disks joined together by parallel rodsarranged at a little distance apart, as clearly shown in Fig. I of thedrawings. This construction permits the barbed wire I to pass freelybetween or over the rollers, as the barbs will enter the spaces betweenthe rods, and therefore present no obstacle to the onward course of thewire. The rollers G and H must also have the same Upon the top of thestrike against the upper end of a lever', R

to the shaft C', is carried around with said'l -shaft and the spools E.

Motion is communicated to the shaft j by means of' a drum, K, on theshaft B, band 7c, and drum L, on a. shaft, l, at the upper end of theframe, on which shaft is a gearwheel, M, which meshes with a gear-wheel,N, on the shaft j. (See Fig. 4t.) The shaftj has a screwthread cut uponit at one end, by means of which it is fed back and forth by rotating ina nut, in a way hereafter to be explained, for

the purpose of reciprocating the reel J, so as to wind the twisted wireevenly thereon.

As the cylinderof wire -isy constantly iiicreasing in size upon the reelJ, and at the same time decreasing upon the spools E, the feed of thewire will be continually changing, while it should be uniform. Tocompensate for this change in the feed, the drums K and L are madeconical in form, and arranged upon their shafts with the taper inopposite directions.

Slides O and P are attached to the frame A, which are providedrespectively with pins o and p, between which the band k passes at itsupper and lower portions of the frame A. The slide O is connected to theslide P by means of a cord or chain, m, and bell-crank n, so that amovement forward of the slide O will effect a corresponding movement ofthe slide P in the same direction.

The upper edge ofthe slide-bar O is notched, as shown in Fig. l, and isset forward atY regular intervals, in the vfollowing `manner: Upon theshaft y is a collar, j', which is arranged so that when thes'haft isdrawn back by the revolution of the screw-nut it will 7 which is pivotedto the upper end of the frame A. A pawl, t", is pivoted to the lower endof the lever R, the other end resting onv the notched edge of the slideO. When the collar j strikes the upper end of the lever R the latter isvibratcd, and the slide O is pushed forward one notch by means of thepawl r, and by the mechanism rdescribed above the slide P will be setforward. a corresponding distance in the Vsame direction. n will thus bemoved upon the drums K and L, so that it passes around a smallercircumference of the former and a larger circumference of the latter,thus diminishing the rapidity of the revolution of the drum L, and to acorresponding degree that ofthe reel J. 4An independent pawl,1^',pivoted to the frame A, holds the bar O from sliding back. y

The bandir- On the shaft l is a loosepinion, S, the body 4of which isextended upon the inside, and

recessed to receive a spring-stop, S. On the same shaft, inside of thepinion, S is rigidly fixed a collar, T, which has a stop or pin, t,projecting from its side toward the pinion S, so as to engage with thespring-stop s when it is projected'from its recess, and thus turn thepinion S with the shaft l. The springstop sis held within its recess, soas not to engage with the pin t, by an arm, U, which is attached to arock-shaft, u, mounted in suitable supports on the main frame. 'Theshaft u turns freely, so that the weight of the arm U will cause it tofall upon the pinion S, unless held up by some positive force. When thethe arm U drops upon the pinion S, the latter continues to revolve untilthe stop sis brought round against the end of the arm, U, when the endof the stop being beveled, the latter will be forced into its recess,and the end of. the arm U, being in line therewith, will hold it lsecurely in place, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The stop beingthus disengaged from the collar T, the pinion S will cease to revolve,The outer end of thearm U is curved, as shown in Figs. 2 and3 of thedrawings, and rests against a pin, s', on the pinion S, so as to preventthe raising of the arm until the proper time. shaft u is attached alever, Y, which projects towards the shaft j. As the collar j' iscarried forward by the forward motion of the shaft j, heretoforedescribed, a pin, t, attached to it will'nally be brought into contactwith the outerend of the lever Y, sothat, by the rev olution of thecollar, the'lever Y will be lifted, thereby turning the rock-shaft, andlifting the arml U from the pinion S. The spring-stop sspeedily engageswith the pin T, and the pinion S is caused to revolve. This pinionengages with a gear-wheel, W, attached to the nut through which thethreaded portion of'r the shaft j runs, and by the revolution of thepinion S the nut is revolved in its bearings, and-thus the shaft j drawnbackward. (See Fig. 4.) When the arm Uv is lifted, a pivoted stop, w, isforced under it by aspring, so as to hold it in its raised position.This stop has an arm, w', extendingforward to the shaft j, and as saidshaft is drawn back bythe revolution of its nut, the collar j willstrike against the arm w', and thus force the stop w from underneath thearm U, allowing the latter to fall, and

stop the revolution of the pinion S, as heretofore described. I

It will thus be seen `that by wheels M, N,

S, and W, of varying diameters, a regular rev ciprocal motion -is givento the shaft j, and so to the reel J, for the purpose of winding thewire uniformily upon the latter.

By the use of my machine .the labor of twisting wires together to form abarbed fencecableis greatly reduced, and the expense lessened. Theaction of the machine is exceedingly rapid, so that large quantities ofOn the other end of the rock- A wire can be twisted in a single day,and, as there is no twisting of the wires independently of each other,they are as strong when twisted together as before, and the cable isconsequently correspondingly strong and durable.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a revolving frame, D, spools of wire E, mounted onspindles turning independently in said frame, gear-Wheels e on thespindles, and 0' on the shaft C, transmitting gear-Wheels d, an openWork or skeleton guide-rollers f and g, supported on the shaft C',substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the spools E, rotating on independent axes,mounted on a revolving frame, guide-rollers f, f7, g, g', and h, and thereel J, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the stationary shaft C, tubular shaft C', carryingthe rollers for guiding the Wires, spool-frame D, and plate D',substantially as described.

4. The combination of the slides O il oted levers n R, cord m, and pawlr, subs d tially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination of the collar j on the reciprocating screw-shaft j,pivoted lever R, pawl r, and notched slide O, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

6. The combination of the shaft l, loose pinion S, provided with aspring-stop, s, fixed collar T, having a stop, t, and vibrating arm U,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. The combination of the collar j on the reciprocating shaft J', leverY, rock-shaft u, vibrating arm U, loose pinion S, and springstop s,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

Witness my hand this 9th day of May, 1876, in the presence of twoWitnesses.

ELIJAH P. PEACOCK.

